Mains answer writing strategies

For Beginners who are going to prepare or are preparing for UPSC Civil Services Exam ::::::

1. Just make a habit of noting down the materials you read . You will feel lazy in this but just promise yourself that you gonna do this. Because these things during the time of revision will aid you a lot .

2. Newspaper reading is must . Go through it and make a habit of making notes out of it . As you cannot retain all information so it's better to note down as in during revision this would help you out . You will feel very lazy in making notes and you may postpone it for tomorrow but please it's your future and its your goal , so be little selfish and try to do that for yourself .
In newspaper you can have a glance of the whole but try to effectively study editorial section, national news of vital importance etc
3. It's your choice about the magazine . But make a habit of going through and making notes of the magazine material you studied . It would really gonna help you in later times. Also try to go through the questions given in them as per seeing the changing trend in IAS exam.
4. Don't be frustrated by the materials and syllabus . No one can prepare all and everything . So it's up to you how much and how well you are studying . You have to manage study and revision accordingly .
5. Don't pay much attention to what your contemporaries say. As it will mainly lead to demotivate you and in this exam the primary criteria is that you need to be motivated all the time . You are quite matured to decide for yourself . You should not be influenced by others
6. Journey is yours and life is yours . You have to decide how to live and sustain . It's all upto you that how effectively you manage . But just remember that you cannot waste your time uselessly ,so in proper apt time you need to give your best and receive the best .
7. So take an oath before yourself that you will follow your path honestly and will try your best . You are not gonna be demotivated and you have to build patience , tolerance and perseverance in yourself. You need to fill your life with the colours of positivity and confidence .
All the besttttt !!!!!!

 Anwar writings

Famous question in minds of millions of UPSC IAS aspirants :::

What type of Answers does UPSC IAS exam demands ???

Answer is " Multidimensional answer " that is integrative approach of writing .

What is Multidimensional Answer ?

In simple terms like a question from environment should not only be answers in terms of environment but also it should also include the components of economics , polity , society, ethics , geography , science and technology and broad vision .

Always multidimensional answer would fetch you much more marks than the direct subject answer . And for this you need to do a lot of practice , write more and more .

An example :

You might have got question from the theme " Drought " , something like that :::

Then you will have to write :::

1. Geography part ( El Nino , rain pattern etc ) this would be direct subject answer .

But you will also have to write on :::

2. Science and technology part ( write your suggestions like Draught resistant seeds, interlinking of river ,bio technological interventions , irrigation modernisation etc etc )

3. Polity part ( you can write about Article 275 that is grant in aid etc )

4. Economics part ( revenue loss, Msp , Agro economics , insurance policies, import export etc )

5. Ethics part (Environmental ethics etc )

6. Society part ( societal unrest , increasing gap between sections of society , societal interest, farmers interest , poverty , malnourishment etc etc )

7. Contemporaries example taken to combat this Draught .

8. Conclusion having component of National interest .

Now you can see the difference ::: when you write points only related to geography you will get less marks but if you include all other dimensions you will definitely have an upper edge .

So keep writing and do a lot of practice .

All the besttttttt !!!

Don't go into too much details of any topic but try to develop basic and broad understanding and interrelation among various topics to face the current nature of examination.

Time management :::

1. Make up your mind with confidence that you are going to really dedicate and devote your precious time accordingly.

2. For learning try to give 30% of the time you are devoting for studies.

3. For revising try to give 45% of the time you are devoting to studies. Try to revise different subjects as this will not lead to boredom. And it will also make your approach multidimensional as well as will help you to have integration approach in your answer writing.
4. For question practice try to give 25% of the time you are devoting to studies. Question practice is the key to success.
5. Always have a proper sleep which is really vital for health.
6. Give your time for recreational activities as well as in socialization.
7. Just be consistent in your routine and activities. Don’t be lazy in your work. Work smartly .
Always remember

“You cannot kill time without injuring eternity. Target the goals and with winning in focus, you will succeed. Time equals life; therefore , waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”

All the besttttttt !!!!

Points to be kept in mind while writing answers :::

1. Try to write what is asked in the question. Give only a required introduction and it should be a small one.

2. Content matters and hence try to write what is asked with relevance.

3. Contemporary examples, live examples, maps, diagrams if possible then use it. It will be definitely an icing on the cake.

4. Conclusion is very important part hence write a very balanced, optimistic and futuristic conclusion wherein Nationality, Society, Constitution etc are highlighted.

5. Try to use the wordings as given in the question in your last part as well as in middle of the answer as it shows you have not deviated from the question.

6. If possible like in History questions try to include significance and impact of any event. In science and tech questions use examples and diagrams to justify your answer.

Always remember:::

Answer writing is a skill which by continuous practice will definitely act as a catalyst to enhance your marks and make your selection with good rank.

All the very Best!!!

Some refreshment for MAINS :::

1. Start your preparation for mains without giving a second thought.

2. With focussed approach start writing answers . This will give you speed as well as an approach on how to go with the mains questions.

3. Get your answers evaluated also , and then incorporate suggestions as given to you.

4. Don't feel lazy to write answers . If you write more answers ,you will gain confidence and definitely it would aid in your success.
5. Don't take mains for granted thinking you will be able to write at last time and manage. It is a very critical stage which requires immense practice.
6. If you have not studied widely but if you write more and more , automatically you will have more effective power writing and this would aid you to get more marks.
7. Mains is of 1750 marks so don't be negligent in this direction. Plan your strategy and time accordingly . Make a time table in such a way that you allocate at least 1.5 to 2 hours daily for your answer writing. If in a day by any chance you get less time to study , it's ok but don't compromise on the time of answer writing.
8. Even for optional also write more answers, attempt previous year papers and get it evaluated .
9. In your free time try to go through back year solved papers of "GS" mains , this would give you knowledge on several topics which you might have not gone through. Make a habit of writing down those answers in short points for your future revision .
10. Last but not the least the more effort in an effective way u put into , the more closer you are to the success.
Remember luck and destiny also favours them who incline towards their goal and work for it. If you move towards your aim and goal then definitely luck and destiny would aid you to achieve it.
All the best !!!!!!!!

No one in this world can love you for your happiness !!! A bitter truth !!!

You should love yourself , value yourself and value your emotions !!!

Sometimes in life smile and haziness combines to give more clarity !!!

Smile when added to any aspect enhances your confidence , spirit and optimism !!!

Some points for the coming prelims UPSC (IAS) Civil Service Examination dated 23rd August 2015 :::

1. Focus more on revision now . You have studied a lot since you are preparing for long time ,so now give your time for revision so as to recollect maximum at the time of exam.

2. Do a lot of question practice as it will prepare you for the final exam. With practice you become perfect in how to select best option, how to eliminate wrong one's, how to deal when you do not answer, how to deal when you have partial knowledge etc .
3. Don't break off with newspaper . It really gives you some information which may become fruitful . Don't go into that depth but just have an overview which doesn't take much of your time.
4. Try to give mock tests and while solving questions assume that you are giving prelims final exam so do accordingly and then check your score and mistakes and further try to understand where you have committed mistake and how to rectify in future.
5. Get to know your strengths and weakness and you can hit upon accordingly. While solving questions you get the ability to control on guess work which is really needed as negative marking gonna reduce your marks.
6. Don't be depressed if you get low marks now as it is the best stage to learn for future and seriously the mock tests are designed in different way as compared to the final prelims paper. So less marks should not bother you . I will narrate here my experience . My prelims was on 26th may and around 10th to 20th may when I was giving tests I was getting a score of 50-65 out of 200. So don't be depressed and off your mood.
7. In fact you will tend to know which area you are missing and what are the reasons. So just honestly commit yourself and learn .
8. Don't be afraid of new type of questions if you get they are meant to teach you ,so know and learn about them. No need to panic in such a situation.
9. Be relaxed and be confident about your preparation. If you have been honest all through ,your honesty would be definitely rewarded.
10. No stress , no junk food , have a healthy diet and sleep well . Don't take much tension as it is going to decrease your efficiency . Thereby follow your normal routine with effective introspection.
11. You have given your best and now the time has come that the whole world would conspire for your success !!! So cheer up and rejoice and give your best !!! It's all yours !!!!

Last few days of Civil services prelims exam :::

1. Devote your time more on revision and especially on those topics where you feel that you tend to forget the facts and you need repeated learning . For me it was history section as well as economics .

2. As if now u can practice questions also , from this you will definitely learn but keep your revision schedule for more time .

3. Try to make a habit of uselessly not locking your horns into " disastrous questions " as more of them will lead to negative marks only.
4. Also slightly turn your habit from nocturnal to diurnal.
5. Have a positive thinking that the level is almost same irrespective of time of preparation . This I can say from my side also . While I was preparing the person with 6months of preparation , 2 years of preparation and 4 years of preparation also is more or less on same level. So definitely the application of mind and control on negative attempts could lead you to win the game .
6. Try to just give your best at the final round as you will not be judged by the rehearsals but by the final show . Also never forget that you are the final judge in your case so don't let others interfere in your life . Whatever you are doing you are going to reap .
In good times everyone will come to support you and be by your side but the same lips might be waiting to curse you if your days are not good.so it's all your take , it's your show and its your game . You have to plan your strategy and go on the field .
Chance is yours and luck is yours.

Following are the tips for UPSC Mains Examination, hope you will find them useful while preparing and writing the mains examination.

1. In Essay try to give futuristic conclusion , be optimistic, if you are writing negative aspects then give solution to this and use simple language.

2. In G.S. try to include diagrams and flow charts wherever possible. And label the diagram aptly and include proper caption for the same.

3. In Ethics case studies focus maximum on conclusion and try to give multidimensional answer that is write about society, economics, ecology, polity, Indian scenario, Constitution, Preamble etc wherever applicable.

4. In polity divide your answer in 3 sections ::: content, contemporary relevance and your views and significance.

5. In paper 3 ( Science & Tech ) try to use maximum diagrams and flowcharts in your answers. The diagram should be drawn by pencil and be properly labelled with appropriate caption.

6. Try to attempt all the questions .It gives a positive reflection on the examiner. As well try to write answers in paragraph but if there is almost no time left then use points to write as something is better than nothing.

7. In History part try to include more of significance of the related question asked. Writing significance rather than factual orientation will fetch you more marks.

8. Use integrated answer writing skill::: that is try to include several dimensions in your answer. Such as political, social, community, environment, ecological, economical, ethical aspects in your single answer possibly.

All the bessttttt !!!!

Clearing IAS Exam :::

To clear IAS Exam, aspirants are advised to have a long-term strategy. Though most of the serious candidates start preparation 9-12 months before the exam date, there are candidates who successfully achieve top ranks with only a few months of dedicated study. So what matters is not the duration of the preparation, but the quality of the same.

A disciplined and focused mind with a passion for learning and reading is the basic trait of all successful candidates. The IAS exam is more a test of the analytic and presentation skills along with knowledge gained by the candidate rather than a test which checks candidate’s mathematical or verbal skills. To clear IAS, we feel following entities as essential:

Right guidance – for prelims and mains.

Right study-materials and books.

Right attitude and aptitude.

Patience , Positivity and Perseverance.

Writing Skill.

More Revision and Question Practice .

Journey is long but you can use correct combination of the above mentioned entities to complete it.

All the Bestttttt !!!

UPSC Civil Services (IAS..) Exam preparation phase :::

In this exam preparation you need to be extra conscious of your confidence and positivity . You might be feeling many a times that this exam is very tough to clear , syllabus is huge , questions are quite difficult , success ratio is quite low , time taken to compete is more etc etc .

But one thing ,you need here is to understand that you are an individual and you only need one seat and your name in the list . That's all. So why to bother for these stuffs uselessly.
These thoughts will only impact you negatively and will try to drift you from your goal oriented direction.
You need to just plan your schedule , do effective time management regarding the same and carry on with your studies .
In this ,just remember that you need to revise a lot and do a lot of question practice. So don't only go through the subjects but also revise and solve questions .
Don't be lazy and don't surround yourself with negative thoughts which could only bring you down.
Have firm determination and with full dedication move on towards your goal and ambition .
All the bessttttttttt !!!!

Very Important

Some terminologies that are used in Civil Services Mains Examination :::

You should know them and should accordingly answer the questions for getting higher score .

1. Evaluate / Assess / Examine / Enquire
Writing pros and cons both (+ and – ). Seeing words make intro and conclusion.
2. Comment / Views / Opinion
Give constructive opinion which should be very positive and very energetic.
Not Individual but should reflect of average youth.
3. Analyse
Breaking into components and writing—1. Pros and cons 2. Your opinion
Basically it is evaluate+ opinion
4. Critical
Supposed to write biased towards negative aspects. Flavour of the answer should be negative .constructive negative format should be followed. Optimistic conclusion and solution is preferred.
5. Narrate
Sequence it / chronologically / writing in a temporal sequencing manner. Futuristic conclusion is preferred.
6. Describe / What / Clarify
Writing about its constituents.
7. Discuss
Outward orientation should be there. Writing about the interfaces of the issue,impact of the issue, connection of the issue. U go outwardly.
8. Elucidate / Elaborate / Examplify
Anything you write with real world connection,examples etc. Data, Places, Figure, Events etc could be included.
9.Justify
Comment in favour .

Vision IAS evaluation method of Mains mockup test

These are the parameters on the basis of Vision IAS evaluate mains test answers.

1-alignment competence ............ (examine) 

2-context competence .......... ( contextual understanding of question...... )

3-content competence .. ( content of answer in the contextual framework )

4-language competence 

5-structure -presentation, competence......... 

6-conclusion .. competence ............

Mains writing strategy

360 degree study approach

1-Political view

2-Social View

3-Economical View

4-Judicial view

5-Constitutional Analysis /view

Biological

infrastructure

science  etc

Gist 

• Answer writing is most important. Just reading books would not help. Start answer writing immediately.

• Focus more an writing, rather than reading/studying.

• Ultimately, you have to go and write the exam. What you finally write in the exam hall is important.

• Topics related to contemporary issues are important.

• Focus mainly on Currents Affairs for mains, especially for the dynamic part. GS – 2 and GS – 3 is mainly dynamic.

• The Aim should be to complete a topic in minimum time with maximum output, so that one can solve most of the questions from the topic.

• ForumIAS Sharing Notes Thread helped a lot.

• Get a general idea on most relevant topics.

• Think in different dimensions while writing the answers.

• Try to know at least 3-4 important points on every topic – current or dynamic.

• Watch Rajya Sabha TV debates(if possible). As it is a visual medium . it helps remember better.

• Don’t become an academician or do PhD on a topic.

• ‘Keywords‘ are important. Expand the keywords in exam.

• Try to put maximum number of points in answers.

• Always put a positive conclusion. Have an optimistic outlook and end the answers on a positive note.

• Start answer writing. Now! Start immediately. Answer writing is very important.

• Try to get hold of the structure of an answer. It comes with answer writing practice.

• Write on different dimensions.

• Write answers regularly. Post/ upload them in ForumIAS.

• Forget the past! Do not think about the future. And, start preparing seriously. Present. Now is very important.

This is an exam not only of knowledge but also of strength, patience and focus. Work hard. Be ambitious and do not be afraid to start. Start where you are. Start with fear, with doubt, with pain. Start with voice shaking and hands trembling. Start where you are, with what you have. You can.  You should. And if you’re brave enough to start, you will succeed one day. 

Artika Shukla

What stops us from being happy?

Having high ambitions but a strong reluctance to work hard and achieve the same!

Comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing grows there.Man should get himself out of his comfort zone and experience life, the fear, the pain only then he would be able to handle things in a better way and get matured.

Sacrifice: According to Gandhi we should always be ready for sacrifice to achieve something meaningful. EX-- To excel in any field be it sports, religion or study, we need to devote extra time on it which mean less time on other activities.

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Suharsha Bhagat – 5th Attempt and 5th Rank

The whole process is itself very long and requires SMART and intelligent preparation, emotional stability, Psychological support, situational awareness and a lot of other social factors also plays an important role.

Pigeon Hole Principle is not Good. All the three stages of examination are integrated. While Prelims test your alertness and memory , Mains examination test your analytical skills and Interview your verbal communication skills.

This exams tests patience and perseverance (persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delays in achieving success ) along with resilience (the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties) and it is needed as the real-time Job experience is much more challenging than this whole exam process

Completion of Paper and maximising your marks in the paper as a whole is more important than maximising your marks in individual questions. This can be done through continuous Test Practise which in turn requires intense mental exercise 

Mental exercise helps you streamline your thought process and in gaining conceptual clarity.The specificity in questions asked recently ,requires a bulls eye view of the subject and understanding which will help you in formulating the structure and flow of your answer.

Write Answers every day till you get your desired Service that is the amount of commitment expected from you.

Now the pattern tests your clarity of thought, ability to express and the quickness in response time thus the Mains in itself is a Personality Test.

So you are basically selling yourself by what you write in those three hours.This was essentially a strategy of UPSC to discourage Coaching institutions. This constraint in time reflects your spontaneity and originality in answering because limited response time makes your answer flow from your subconscious.

As I said earlier focus on maximising the marks in entire paper. For eg the highest mark a candidate can get for an answer is 5 to 5.5 marks. A score of 100 is considered to be a Good score.

Also paper checking is a tiresome process so you have to make answer reading effortless which will come only if you have clarity in what you know.

Presentation also plays a role. Underlining, diagrammatic and schematic representations add value to your answers. Using flow charts and infographics as and when needed is a good approach.

Basically how you attempt your question reflects your value system so evolve a unique approach.

Does the vocabulary of the Question Matters?

I prefer you to see the dictionary and understand the meaning of words like Comment, Illustrate, elucidate ,analyse etc. This will make you understand the Question frame and answer better. Let us see the Difference between analyse and critically analyse

Lets consider the example of a Govt scheme that need to be analysed and Critically analysed

1. How this program will overcome the shortcomings of the previous ones.
2. Its Special Features
3. Roadblocks and obstacles
4. Ending in a positive note

Analyse– Give much weightage for 1st and 2nd points . Let the 3rd and 4th be your conclusion.

Critically Analyse– Briefly do the 1st and 2nd points and elaborate on the 3rd and 4th.

Also make judicious use of jargon and key words.

How to approach Essay

Keeping it simple and refraining you from Hi-Fi jargons and squeezing quotes unnecessarily is considered better.

Newspapers often provide good source and inspiration for essays. Good Planning, Natural flow and Coherence make the difference.

Give equal time to all essays. The beauty with interview and essays is that you prepare without knowing that you are preparing. Same Read, Think and Write mantra helps here to avoid mental blockage.

My Approach for the Interview

Your frame of mind and confidence will decide your fate. The newspaper of that day and Current affairs awareness play a crucial role. Above all your DAF (Detailed application Form) is of utmost importance.

The Hobby and Extra-Curricular Activities mentioned in your DAF needs thorough preparation as they are self-declared.

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